US-North Korea: From Brinkmanship to Dialogue; Strategic Insights: v.2, issue 4 (April 2003)
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Authors
Olsen, Edward
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2003-04
Date
April 2003
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
Tensions surrounding North Korea escalate unpredictably on an almost daily basis. Much of this volatile situation can be ascribed to Pyongyang's willingness to engage in a reckless combination of provocative acts and rhetorical tirades that constitute its infamous diplomatic brinkmanship. North Korea's willingness to make use of its nuclear option in a U.S.-DPRK diplomatic meeting last October seems to have been motivated by a desire to reinforce its peculiar brand of deterrence. The Kim Jong-il government was further emboldened in subsequent months by the combination of two sets of circumstances. First were favorable political developments in South Korea--in the form of December's election of President Roh Moo-hyun, who strongly favors ROK engagement of the DPRK and took office riding a wave of strident anti-Americanism. The second were the United States' commitments within its war on terrorism and related tensions in the Middle East that stretched U.S. strategic resources. Against this background North Korea saw an opportunity.
Type
Article
Description
This article appeared in Strategic Insights (April 2003), v.2 no.4
Series/Report No
Strategic Insights
Department
National Security Affairs (NSA)
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
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NPS Report Number
Sponsors
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Format
Citation
Strategic Insights, v.2, issue 4 (April 2003)
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.